Card of the week - Alexei Yashin

With each passing day I swear 1995 is coming back in style. First the Jets, then Jagr and now Yashin? After a less than steller year in the KHL, Yashin wants to prove he can still disappear come playoff time at the age of 38. However, it looks like the only team interested in him (Islanders) won't likely make the playoffs come this spring thus making him just another expenditure to get the Isles over the cap floor. What makes this even more interesting, according to Capgeek.com, Yashin is still on the payroll for his buyout. In fact, he is still a cap hit for the Isles (2.2 mil/year) until the spring of 2015. I am not sure what they are hoping for with this possible signing, but I do hope that John Tavares' locker is as far away from this guy as possible as I am not sure what Yashin could offer JT in terms of advice!

94-95 Collector's Choice Crash the Game Redemption Silver and Gold

Back in 1995 I came out of collecting retirement to play "You Crash the Game". The deal was every 5 packs had a player card in it which featured one of 30 players with a date on it. Each player was released with 3 different dates. The player would have a game on that date, and if they scored a goal that game, YOU won the right to mail away for a set. OF course you needed to pay for shipping and handling which was 3 bucks. The gold redemption cards fell 1 out of every 34 packs. I had several and won on a few. Now fast forward 16 years and they are pretty much worthless, but fun nonetheless.

I actually preferred the look of the silver sets. Each set also came with a single bonus card which was packaged in the set giving you a total of 31 cards.

The backside of the card just featured text and looks the same on both gold and silver.

How I received the card: Both came via redemption

Beckett value: Yashin Gold (40 cents)

Yashin Silver (12 cents)

In the end I think I have about 4 Silver Sets and 2 Gold Sets as well as many different "game" cards which I didn't win on. If you have any interest in these let me know I wouldn't mind trading a couple away as I am sure I don't need them all!